Want to move to Des Moines but concerned... (Cedar Rapids, Colo: tornadoes, showing)

[ukusmom]

We are very interested in Des Moines,among other areas, but are afraid of tornado and flooding activity. This is not something we are used to. Is this something we should be concerned about?

Also, if so, does anyone know of a city like it that does not have these weather conditions?

I have no idea what it is like to be in a "tornado activity zone." I imagine it would be stressful, but may be misguided on how frequently it occurs.

Please give your opinions.

Thanks.

[minnimouse]

Where are you moving from? I don't think you can judge Iowa by what's happening this year.. I think the weather is abnormal everywhere..You have the southern states with record heat and the west suffering from a drought situation causing fires and the Northwest colder than normal..This all comes together causing tornado's, etc. We have friends in Des Moines that moved from Colorado and they love it there. Hope this helps somewhat..I'm also not used to Tornado activity..you just have to keep your eyes on the sky and buy a weather radio.

[pepe1]

There is little to worry about.

Flooding is rare and is probably only affecting less than 5% of the population. The media LOVES to sensationalize these things.

On Tornados. I've lived in 'tornado alley" most of my life. I have never seen an actual real life tornado. And I would guess 75% of those who claim they have - really have never seen one either.

[ukusmom]

We are moving from Virginia. Thanks so much for your response.

Originally Posted by minnimouse

Where are you moving from? I don't think you can judge Iowa by what's happening this year.. I think the weather is abnormal everywhere..You have the southern states with record heat and the west suffering from a drought situation causing fires and the Northwest colder than normal..This all comes together causing tornado's, etc. We have friends in Des Moines that moved from Colorado and they love it there. Hope this helps somewhat..I'm also not used to Tornado activity..you just have to keep your eyes on the sky and buy a weather radio.

[ukusmom]

Thanks so much for the response. It makes me feel a lot better!

Originally Posted by pepe1

There is little to worry about.

Flooding is rare and is probably only affecting less than 5% of the population. The media LOVES to sensationalize these things.

On Tornados. I've lived in 'tornado alley" most of my life. I have never seen an actual real life tornado. And I would guess 75% of those who claim they have - really have never seen one either.

[Tek_Freek]

I've lived here my entire life. I've seen a few tornadoes, and sat through two. Certainly scary, but since we were prepared and paid attention we were safe. I should probably let you know that this statement covers (gulp) 60 years!

Tornadoes go where ever they want, whenever they want. They are destructive as you know. That being said, if you prepare yourself for the very unlikely event that you find yourself in the path of one, your risk can be minimal.

Buy or rent a house with a basement. You can build a "safe room" that is simply a small, sturdily built room in a corner of the basement that you go to.

Pay attention to the weather forecasts, the new radars in use here will tell exactly where a tornado is if it's been spotted and where it might be if it hasn't been seen (likely at night). It will give direction and speed so weather forecasters can tell you exactly when it will be it a certain location. If you do see one and are able to, drive 90 degrees to the direction of the tornado, this is the quickest escape route. So If you see one going South in front of you and you are traveling East, turn around and go West. If it looks like it's either moving directly away from you or directly at you, turn and go North or South depending on roads and it's location to your South or North. Hope that made sense.

As for flooding, we took into account the possibility of floods when we bought our houses (first in 1976) and placed ourselves at high elevations. We are currently 200 feet above the rivers. This is a simple way to protect yourself.

Worry less about the possibility of tornadoes or floods and more about protecting yourself from them and you'll be fine. That's assuming you ever see either one.

[CrazyHorsePete]

You may want to check out this site:

Tornado Safety (Online Tornado FAQ)

Tornado Watch: Atmospheric conditions are favorable for tornadoes. That does NOT mean that a tornado has been sighted, nor is it a guarantee that one will occur.

Tornado Warning: A tornado has either been spotted (by storm spotters, law enforcement, or the public) or indicated by radar. This does not necessarily mean that there is a tornado on the ground, but there may be, so take appropriate precautions.

[PerryGeek]

Also, all this talk of tornados....

Here is a nice little map showing frequency of tornados.

As you can see, its not quite so bad here as in the south.

http://www.tornadochaser.net/images/frequency.gif

[MastermindDSM]

don't worry about flooding unless you are in the 100 year flood plain. I have lived in Iowa 29 years and have never actually seen a tornado either.

[Chicago60614]

I lived in Iowa for 22 years and never saw a tornado. I've actually never met anyone when I lived in Iowa, including my entire family, who had ever actually SEEN a tornado. While they make the news every time they hit, the actual chances of it directly affecting you at any given time are pretty close to 0%.

Iowa sees on average almost 1 death every two years from tornadoes. This is about a 1 in 6 million chance of being killed in any given year.

A VAST majority of the average 47 tornadoes a year (over 55,000 square miles) hit open land, since that's what makes up almost all of Iowa.

As far as flooding, what happened this year was unprecidented. It would be like not moving to New Orleans because you're afraid Katrina will hit you every single year. It was a once in 200 years event, not something that any locals are use to, or have ever seen in their lifetimes. Especially what happened to Cedar Rapids, which is something like a once in 3,000 year flood.